Duke Energy has rolled out a so-called “Modernization” Plan that doubles down on fossil fuels and threatens to disrupt hundreds of property owners, sensitive habitats, and the visual beauty of the southern Western North Carolina mountains. Duke claims that to keep the lights on in WNC, we need both a bigger fossil-fueled power plant and new high-voltage transmission lines at a price around a billion dollars. It seems to us that instead of choosing the most economically and environmentally viable solution, Duke is overbuilding all their infrastructure, and we call on the utility to justify the need for this plan over alternatives.

Duke’s plan will impact WNC for years to come, and Duke has not sufficiently justified its requests with data or indicated that it considered other alternatives that would reduce impacts to people and the environment and reduce WNC’s reliance on fossil fuels. Duke has made broad statements of need, but so far has not released any detailed analysis demonstrating the need for both of these large, expensive projects.

Notably, Duke has failed to show why such a large investment in fossil fuels is the best choice for our region rather than first unlocking the full potential of energy efficiency and renewable energy to reduce and meet growing electricity demand. Energy efficiency is already the lowest cost solution to reduce demand and the levelized cost of utility scale solar photovoltaics and other renewable energy technologies are rapidly approaching that of combined cycle gas without the negative health and environmental consequences.

Duke has also failed to provide a lifecycle cost comparison for upgrading existing transmission lines or utilizing underground lines, which may cost less in the long-run when maintenance is considered.

Similarly, Duke’s answers to questions about the relationship between the size of the new gas plant and the need for additional transmission have not been on point and only add to the public confusion. Likewise, Duke should address whether the proposed lines impact the ability to import cleaner renewable energy from other parts of the state and country into WNC. Duke is guaranteed a rate of return on all capital investments, and has a profit incentive to build both of these large projects. All of these factors should be examined together, again, to ensure Duke is proposing the least impactful project both in terms of the environment and rates.

We call on Duke Energy to provide a comprehensive, detailed analysis justifying these investments and weighing all the options available, including additional investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, in order to prove that the current WNC “Modernization” Plan is the best for our environment and communities and makes the most economic sense for ratepayers.

In the absence of this analysis, and by locking WNC into a fossil fuel future with these oversized projects, this plan really appears to be a backward-looking “Fossilization” plan rather than a true “Modernization” plan.

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

8/2: Broad River Alliance Paddle and Picnic

The Broad River Alliance, an affiliate of the Waterkeeper Alliance, will host a group river float Sunday August 2 to kick off “Swimmable Water Weekend.” This is an easy paddle trip from Lake Hauser to the Broad River Greenway. Meet up at Lake Hauser (1342 Lake Hauser Rd, Mooresboro, 28114) at 10:30 am to drop off boats and then the group will take most of the vehicles down to the Greenway take-out point (126 Broad River Drive, Shelby, 28152), then carpool back up to Lake Hauser to start the float.

Depending on the water levels, the trip will take an estimated 3.5 to 4 hours, so bring a lunch, drinks, and sunscreen. Let the BRA know if you are planning to join on the trip and if you have extra boats others could use.

Come swim, paddle and picnic in celebration of our beautiful rivers!

To join, contact David at broadriveralliance@gmail.com or send a message on the Broad River Alliance facebook page here.

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

8/22 – Mountain Brew Fest in Downtown Hendersonville

Come out and celebrate community, clean water and great beer at MountainTrue’s first Mountain Brew Fest in Downtown Hendersonville on August 22.

Enjoy live music, food, and craft beer from the region’s best craft brewers while helping MoutainTrue advance its mission to champion resilient forests, clean waters, and healthy communities across Western North Carolina. Mountain Brew Fest provides a great opportunity to connect quality of life with a healthy environment.

Mountain Brew Fest is Hendersonville’s first beer festival, and will be held from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Locust Street and Bearcat Boulevard adjacent to the Southern Appalachian Brewery.

Clean Water = Great Beer!

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

Court Rejects North Carolina’s Attempt to Weaken Air Pollution Protections

On Wednesday, the Southern Environmental Law Center, who represented Clean Air Carolina, North Carolina Coastal Federation, and Mountain True in the case, and Earthjustice, who represented the Sierra Club, issued the following:

CHAPEL HILL, NC— In a win yesterday for the people of North Carolina and everyone across the country who suffers health problems from breathing soot, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected North Carolina’s challenge to federal standards that protect people from increases in dangerous fine particle pollution.

North Carolina waited over three years to seek to weaken the fine particle standards—long after the statutory deadline of 60 days. No other state joined North Carolina in its challenge.

“We applaud the court’s rejection of North Carolina’s baseless lawsuit,” said Myra Blake, attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “This case has been a tremendous waste of North Carolina taxpayers’ resources, as the state chose to expend valuable time and energy challenging an important public health protection, even though it knew the deadline for filing its lawsuit had already passed.”

The court rejected the challenge because it was not filed within the statute of limitations.

“We’re glad the Court rejected North Carolina’s attempt to undermine the public health protections the Clean Air Act guarantees every person living here. Soot kills, and EPA established solid protections against it. North Carolina’s efforts to put profits over people’s lungs rightly failed,” Seth Johnson, attorney at Earthjustice, said.

The Southern Environmental Law Center represents Clean Air Carolina, North Carolina Coastal Federation, and Mountain True in this matter, and Earthjustice represents Sierra Club. These conservation groups intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of the federal government to oppose North Carolina’s attempts to relax the fine particle standards.

“Fine particle pollution is linked to over two million premature deaths around the globe each year, and there is no level of exposure that is considered safe,” said Mike Giles, Coastal Advocate for the North Carolina Coastal Federation. “That’s why local citizen groups representing over 15,000 North Carolinians joined forces to oppose the state’s lawsuit.”

Fine particles come from a number of sources, including coal-fired power plants and motor vehicles, and are linked to significant health problems, including asthma, heart attacks, bronchitis, and premature death.

“We are so glad that reason and science prevails to protect public health” said Clean Air Carolina’s Terry Lansdell. “North Carolina’s attack on fine particle protections would have wiped out substantial progress and pollution reductions that have occurred in the past several decades. The people of North Carolina can breathe easier knowing that this setback was averted.”

North Carolina had attempted to block citizen groups’ participation in the fine particle case, but the court rejected North Carolina’s arguments on this front as well in an earlier decision.

“Rather than promoting the interests of the people of North Carolina, the State actively tried to stifle citizen involvement in this matter. That effort fortunately failed, along with North Carolina’s attempt to rollback protections for people from the mountains to the coast” said Julie Mayfield, Co-Director of MountainTrue.

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

The Environmnetal Quality Institute (EQI) is in search of volunteers to help collect monthly water samples at three sites in Fairview and one site in South Buncombe for the Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN). VWIN is a stream monitoring program where volunteers collect stream water samples that are later analyzed at the EQI laboratory in Asheville.

Buncombe County stream samples are collected at established sites on the first Saturday of each month. After collection, the volunteers take the samples to a designated drop point (usually a gas station cooler) where the samples are refrigerated. The volunteer coordinator picks up the samples from the drop point and delivers them to the EQI laboratory Monday morning. EQI tests the samples for pH, alkalinity, conductivity, orthophosphate, ammonia-nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, turbidity, and total suspended solids each month.

Volunteers are currently needed for the following sites:
Fairview – Cane and Ashworth Creeks at Hwy 74 and Cane Creek at Mills Gap Road (3 sites)
South Buncombe – French Broad River at Corcoran Park (1 site, even months only)

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

More details coming soon!

Western North Carolina is blessed with more than 1.5 million acres of public land, including Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and several state-owned parks, forests and natural areas. These public lands support the headwaters of our rivers, beautiful mountain vistas, one of the most diverse temperate forests on the planet, and a thriving economy in tourism, crafts and recreation.

During its 30-year history, WNCA (now MountainTrue) has twice prevented logging in the Asheville Watershed, first in 1990 and again in 2004. Eventually the City of Asheville placed a conservation easement over 17,356 acres of the watershed.

]]>http://mountaintrue.org/822-save-the-date-for-mountain-brew-fest/feed/0“Merchants of Doubt” screening at the Orange Peelhttp://mountaintrue.org/merchants-of-doubt-screening-at-the-orange-peel/
http://mountaintrue.org/merchants-of-doubt-screening-at-the-orange-peel/#commentsThu, 25 Jun 2015 16:35:22 +0000http://mountaintrue.org/?p=11251Join the Sierra Club of WNC, the Orange Peel and MountainTrue for a screening of the climate change documentary “Merchants of Doubt” on Thursday, August 13.

Created and directed by Academy Award nominee and creator of the film, “Food, Inc,” Robert Kenner, the film “Merchants of Doubt” is a look at how the “climate change denier” industry has found such success.

The documentary, based on the book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, is an inside look at how public opinion is formed in this country, how spin doctors and media manipulators get people to ignore science at their own peril.

“Merchants of Doubt” will be shown at the Orange Peel in Downtown Asheville on Thursday August 13th at 7:30.

Doors open at 7pm. This will be a fully seated event, open to all ages. Entry is free, but a $5 donation is suggested to support the event’s co-sponsor organizations, Mountain True and Sierra Club of WNC.

]]>http://mountaintrue.org/merchants-of-doubt-screening-at-the-orange-peel/feed/0Announcement to clean coal ash ponds excludes two of three Cliffside siteshttp://mountaintrue.org/announcement-to-clean-coal-ash-ponds-excludes-two-of-three-cliffside-sites/
http://mountaintrue.org/announcement-to-clean-coal-ash-ponds-excludes-two-of-three-cliffside-sites/#commentsWed, 24 Jun 2015 17:30:34 +0000http://mountaintrue.org/?p=11238On June 25, Duke Energy announced plans to excavate and close 12 additional coal ash ponds across the state.

Duke Energy’s announcement does not impact its Asheville site, where all the ash is already mandated to be moved, but it does include excavation of one of the three coal ash ponds at the Cliffside power plant in Rutherford County. We know that all three ponds are leaching contaminants into the groundwater and the river so, while it is a step forward that Duke is committing to excavate ash in one of those ponds, we believe they can and should do better. They have not yet decided what to do with the coal ash in the other ponds, nor has the state mandated a cleanup strategy there.

With this announcement, Duke has now committed to excavate coal ash at 7 of 14 sites (20 of 32 ash ponds) in NC. Again, while this is a good step, seven communities across the state still don’t know the extent to which they will be protected from ongoing coal ash contamination going forward. We will press on with our litigation in the Cliffside case until we reach a resolution that will protect the people of that region and the Broad River.

Film Synopses

Highlands, NC
June 13, 2015

Birdsongs: Yosemite Nature NotesWILDLIFE AND NATUREYosemite National Park’s beautiful landscapes also contain unique soundscapes, and birders and ornithologist flock to park to see and hear over 250 species of birds. Open your eyes and ears to the birdsongs of Yosemite! (2014, 6 min)

Common GroundAlexandria BombachLAND PRESERVATIONSeveral ranching and farming communities living against the stunning landscape of the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana are faced with the decision of what is to become of this unprotected public land. As the community battles with the idea of proposing more wilderness areas, heritage and tradition are seemingly defended on both sides. When the people begin to raise their voices, they come to find that what is feared most is change. (2014, 18 min)

Curious Snail, TheAlex JonesKIDSThe “Curious Snail” showcases the beauty of a snail’s simple and small world. All 4K and 5K content is available for commercial licensing upon request. (2014, 1 min)

Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the NightEmily DriscollSOCIAL JUSTICE AND ACTIVISM‘Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night’ explores the importance of darkness through the study and preservation of firefly habitats in Japan and the United States. Fireflies are reportedly disappearing, as artificial night lights disrupt their ‘language of light’. ‘Brilliant Darkness Hotaru in the Night’ features artists and scientists on different continents working to understand firefly flash patterns and how to live among wildlife in urban settings. (2014, 12 min)

Delta DawnPeter McBrideWATER AND FISH CONSERVATIONThe Colorado River hasn’t kissed the sea in almost two decades — until the spring of 2014 when an experimental pulse of water was released into this forgotten delta. A team of river runners followed the water to witness this unprecedented restoration effort, and attempted to be the only, and potentially the last to float the Colorado River to the sea by paddle board. With unpredictable adventure as the backdrop, filmmaker Pete McBride tells the story of Western water, a challenged Colorado River and the uplifting potential for environmental restoration via collaboration, all through his repeated experiences chasing a river to the sea. (2014, 17 min)

Chuitna, More Than Salmon On The LineTrip Jennings, Paul Moinester, Sam Weis, Balance MediaWATER AND FISH CONSERVATION“Chuitna” chronicles the journey of conservation-minded fly fishermen who travel to Alaska’s unspoiled Chuitna Watershed to wade waist-deep into its salmon-rich waters and the fight to defeat the proposed Chuitna Coal Mine. With every cast and every conversation with the frontier Alaskans fighting to protect their homeland, the travelers obtain a deeper understanding of the mine’s devastating impact. (2014, 29 min)

I HeardMichael Ramsey Director, Abbey Smith Producer, Stacy Bare Executive ProducerKIDSA Seuss-esque journey into some of the 110+ million acres of designated American wilderness that we have to enjoy. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Ramsey’s short film celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act which ensures that we will have places “…where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” (2014, 3 min)